Cinque Terre

 Our last day in Italy and what should we do? We had seen all that we wanted to in Pisa and were checking online for ideas.

Daz realised that the Cinque Terre was in reach on an InterCity train, so off we went.

The Cinque Terre are five villages clinging on to the cliffs, and are world famous for their beautiful coloured houses and spectacular setting.

 We got off the train at Monterosso and wandered around. There is a cliff path to the next village, but it was closed due to a landslide, so instead we caught the local train through a tunnel.

We arrived at Corniglia and had to climb hundreds of steps up to the village.

Then we set off across the cliffs to the next village.

Then at the highest point a beautiful mirage appeared.

It wasn't a cheap mirage, and the only food they served was oranges that they probably picked from a nearby tree, but what a view. Great music too.

Feeling refreshed, we set off down to Vernazza. Probably the most beautiful of all the villages.

Back on the train through another tunnel to Riomaggiore. Their path is called the Via dell'amore. It is almost flat, although there are quite a lot of steps up to the start of it.

The path was closed for 20 years and only reopened in 2024. It obviously took a huge amount of building to create the path and in places it is dug out of the rocks.

It is supposed to be about one kilometre long and go round to the fifth village, but it wasn't possible to get through because of a rockfall.

So we went back to look around the village and then back to the station.

Darren was keen to get the train through the tunnel to the fifth village, but I was so tired that instead we whizzed back to the hotel on the fast train.

Pisa

We caught a bus from Lucca, and 30 minutes later we were outside our hotel in Pisa. According to the hotel brochure it was located 40 seconds walk from the main sights.

They weren't wrong, and the place was packed with tourists taking photos of themselves either holding up the tower or putting their finger on the top of it.

We were a bit too cool for that, and anyway did it last time we were here, so just enjoyed watching others do it.

We had been told by lots of people that the tower is the only thing to see in Pisa but that really isn't true.

We paid to go into a brilliant vaulted building and then up on to the town walls.

They were very impressive, 11 meters tall and 3 kilometres long and surrounding most of the town.

We walked to the end of them by the river Arno and then back through the pretty town.

We stopped for cappuccinos at a tiny café with a very friendly waitress, who when we went inside to pay, gave us and a couple of other customers shots of chocolate liquor and we all downed them in one.

Exploring Lucca

Lucca is a beautiful city that was founded by the Etruscans, became a Roman colony in 180 BC, and is famed by most people for it's fully intact 16th - 17th century Renaissance walls.

Not apparently by us though as we appear to not have taken any photos of them, and this picture of a road on the top is all that I have 

I did like the very narrow streets inside the walls though, and took lots of photos of the surprising views around each corner.

It was the warmest day or our trip so far, and the first time that I sat outside in a tee shirt to soak up the sun.

After wandering around the town, we exited the wall by a secret - ish tunnel, and went to see the Nottolini aquaduct that dates from 1823. It has an incredible 460 arches.

I had hoped that we would be able to walk along the top enjoying panoramic views, but it was actually quite narrow and probably much safer to stay down at ground level.

In the evening we went to yet another cultural event - a Puccini and Mozart concert in a beautiful church.

This morning we got a real chance to appreciate and sort of enjoy the city walls, as we ran the parkrun around the whole loop.

Both pleased with our times too.

Florence to Lucca

A bit of a cultural day today, plus a train ride from Florence to Lucca in the middle.

No, that's not how we felt, it was the artwork of Clet Abraham who is based in Florence and who amongst other things, improves roadsigns.

Susan told us about him, and it took us a while to get our eye in to find them, but then there was loads all around the city.

Once we got to Lucca we found out that the composer Puccini was born there, and there is a superb statue of him just in front of his own museum.

Then we paid to go in to see a special collection of art by Giovanni Boldini.

We had never heard of him before, but his paintings were beautiful.

He was born in Italy and painted portraits of many high society ladies. He then moved to Paris, became close friends with Degas and was a link between traditional portraiture and the new expressionistic style, according to the audio guide.

Exploring Florence

We arrived yesterday afternoon, and didn't do much except have a quick look around and get some dinner.

This morning we decided to see the main sights of the city, and we were surprised that it was much more compact than we expected.

Almost the first thing that we saw was the replica David statue by Michaelangelo. The original is in a nearby museum, but this copy looked superb in front of the Palazzo Vecchio.

The building was in shade this morning so we retraced our steps later to get it in it's full glory.

Then it was on past the Ponte Vecchio bridge over the River Arno.

Once across the river we climbed up many steps to the Piazzale Michaelangelo which had fantastic views over the city.

That's a panoramic view, but probably a bit small so here are a couple of standard shots.

The gigantic Duomo dominates the skyline and is one of the largest churches in the world.

Up close it is amazing and the sun was just at the right angle to see it at it's best.

San Marino

Today we visited the country of San Marino. It is a tiny country that is completely surrounded by Italy and has a population of around 34,000 people.

I was going to explain why it is a country, but it got so complicated, and there are so many myths and legends that all I will say is that it was founded in 301 AD.

We caught a bus to the bottom of a mountain, and followed quite a steep path up to the top.

The trail was very well marked, but frustrating at times as the path sometimes went steeply down before going up again.

Once at the top we came to the first of three towers that used to guard San Marino from many invaders.

About half a mile further on was the second tower, but this one much more like a castle.

It was balanced right on the edge of the vertical clifftop, and looking back you could see the tower that we had just left behind.

We were up in the clouds and occasionally the sky would clear, but mostly we couldn't even see down to the valley below.

However, looking ahead of us we could just about see the third fortification, which was the biggest and main castle.

We walked up to this one over a superb bridge.

We had paid to go inside, so we tried to get to the highest point possible, and climbed up an almost vertical ladder and through a narrow gap to get there.

Standing at the bottom looking up I am not sure which tower it was, but probably this one.

Overall, it is probably the most castlely castle that we have ever been to. If Robin Hood had ever got to see it I think that he would agree too.

Moving on to the town, our castle tickets included entry to various museums and attractions. I didn't fancy the Torture Museum, or the Stamp and Coin Museum, or even the Curiosities Museum.

But the Palazzo Pubblico was beautiful, and is their Parliament Building. We went inside and it was just as good as the outside, with a fantastic debating hall.

Then we went to the Modern Art Museum, that was in a great building, but very much lacking in art I think.

Best exhibit was the seven dwarves who were having a conversation with famous people from history. (Sorry I have forgotten who, and Daz didn't even read the description).

Finally we left the fortified town and sat in a bar to wait for our bus back to Rimini.